One Carnival cruise ship is coming to Mobile, but why not go for two?

"This could be quite a catalyst for future opportunities for Mobile." - Stewart Chiron of cruiseguy.com

The Carnival Elation passes the Carnival Fantasy as the Elation arrives at its new port, the Alabama Cruise Terminal, in Mobile, Ala., on Saturday, May 15, 2010. This could be a familiar site, according to one industry insider, if the pricing and marketing of a new Carnival cruise ship is done right. (file photo).

As Alabama and the city of Mobile prepare for the return of a Carnival cruise ship, one industry insider is asking the question: Why not get two ships?

Stewart Chiron, CEO of cruiseguy.com, said Friday that if Mobile can prove to Carnival Cruise Line they can handle a first-class vessel, there is no reason why "they can't get two."

If a second cruise ship were to call the Alabama Cruise Terminal its homeport, it would be a first for the city and state: Since the terminal was dedicated 11 years ago, only one ship has called Mobile its homeport at one time until the industry vacated the region in 2011.

"This could be quite a catalyst for future opportunities for Mobile," Chiron said.

Among the issues Carnival will monitor upon its return to South Alabama is whether excursions from the Alabama Cruise Terminal will be competitively priced compared to other ports, he said.

Among the cities in which Mobile might be compared are Charleston, S.C. and Jacksonville, each offering Carnival Fantasy-class voyages that Mobile is likely to operate once the company makes an official announcement later this month.

Chiron said past pricing featuring lower cost excursions from Mobile was one of the reasons why the Miami-based company left the city nearly four years ago.

"Carnival knew they could take the ship and get higher pricing in other ports," Chiron said. "That's why they moved it."

He added, "It wasn't done lightly but it was a business decision they had to make at the time."

But Mobile could be at a marketing advantage compared to other ports, Chiron said, in offering cruises to the Western Caribbean that Charleston, Jacksonville and Port Canaveral, Fla. cannot on a four or five-night sailing.

"If (cruisers) want to get the true Caribbean experience, they would have to get to a place like Mobile," Chiron said. "People think the Bahamas are in the Caribbean, but it's in the Atlantic."

Chiron, who has been skeptical in the past about the cruise industry's interest in cities like Mobile, said the company is in a "different place now" with new ships coming online and with a need to move others to different markets.

Chiron said there are eight Fantasy-class ships in Carnival's fleet. He said that Mobile is "100 percent" likely to get one of them.

"You got eight of these ships and (the existing ports) are in competition for new and larger ships and there is nothing that would prevent, based on demand and success, that Mobile couldn't get (more than one)," Chiron said.

Colby Cooper, the chief of staff to Mayor Sandy Stimpson, said he cannot project what the cruise industry will do, but he said the administration's goal is to make Mobile a "world-class destination."

Stimpson announced a tourism initiative Tuesday that included the attraction of a cruise ship back to Mobile. The mayor, during a news conference Thursday, confirmed that the city and Carnival Cruise Line are in final negotiations to bring a ship back to Mobile.

Chiron said that it will be important for Mobile, and the state of Alabama, to promote and market Carnival's return into the region.

Alabama Tourism Director Lee Sentell said that Carnival will play a major role in the state's marketing initiatives for 2016.

"We will add Carnival's ship to our major marketing platforms and we will incorporate photos into our 2016 'Sweet Home Alabama' guide and in our television commercials that air on 50 Raycom stations," Sentell said.

Cooper said that as the agreement - which has not been signed - unfolds, "all parties involved are going to be doing what they need to do to make it a success."

"Mayor Stimpson has launched a first-of-its-kind Mayoral Tourism Initiative in Mobile to begin to tie together all the wonderful arts, cultural, attraction and event amenities the city has to offer," Cooper said. "If we strategically package ourself - organizations like the (Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau) can sell it to the world. We believe we can become one of America's top destinations."